


Talking makes everything easier

by Pinetasticapple



Series: 30 Day Cheesy Tropes challenge [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Dean Winchester, I have no idea of what else to tag, Light Angst, M/M, Nerd Dean, Popular Castiel, spin the bottle au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-18
Updated: 2014-06-18
Packaged: 2018-02-05 05:49:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1807681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinetasticapple/pseuds/Pinetasticapple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Day 6: Spin the bottle.</p><p>Dean was not a fan of that game. But hey, he didn't want to be the sour one in the party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talking makes everything easier

**Author's Note:**

> This works better if you read the previous story, which is day 3. But can work as a stand alone.  
> From this trope list: http://ghiraher.tumblr.com/post/37135733342/30-day-cheesy-tropes-challenge

It had been two months after Dean had gone for coffee with his crush Castiel Novak. Two months of coffee dates, library encounters and waving across the campus. Dean was thrilled, getting to know so much about Castiel; he was majoring in Literature, he had an older brother who worked as CEO in a company that Dean had never heard about before, he liked guinea pigs and if it wasn’t for the campus’ policy he would have one right away. He also enjoyed quiet afternoons and hated the cold.

Soon after that were the stolen kisses on the cheek, the affectionate hand against his hair and the long staring they had that made Dean’s heart flutter with happiness whenever Cas threw a smile at him.

That of course, until the arrival of spring.

It was Benny who pointed it out, one afternoon when they were having lunch. It was an innocent question, Dean knew that, knew that Benny never meant to cause harm, but it still hurt to see the slow realization of it.

_“So, are you two dating now?”_

_“I… guess so?” Dean was about to reach some fries when Benny asked, interrupting his goal of stealing the fries “why?”_

_“You keep talking of how great this Castiel is but I haven’t seen you with him around”_

_“Meaning?”_

_“I don’t know brother, I just find it strange, and if you are dating shouldn’t he be around more often?”_

_“He has work as well as I have?” Dean had removed his glasses, cleaning the smudge that had appeared on a corner “maybe he is not for pda”_

_Benny just hummed, taking back the fries from Dean’s tray, but now Dean had started to think about that._

Dean had to stop and think about that conversation the whole night. Was Cas hiding… well, what they had? Castiel was a popular guy and the news that he had someone, a guy, a nerd from Engineer as a matter of fact, with him would be the cause of rumours and possible teasing that could go off hand.

But wasn’t Cas indifferent to those? What if there was something else? Was it a family thing? No, otherwise Cas would have stopped any possibility before.

Dean turned and tossed for the rest of the night, trying to think of a possible answer to those thoughts.

Since the next day was a Saturday Dean had no trouble in staying in bed for as long as he could, playing with the DS Charlie had let him have for a while and reading after some hours. He was currently listening to the new episode of ‘Welcome to Night Vale’ and dozing into a dream until a text on his phone alerted him to get up.

            _From: Cas 20:22 pm_

_Hello Dean, do you have plans for tonight?_

Dean blinked the sleep away from his eyes. There had been no LARPing that day and Benny had a full day date planned with his girlfriend, which he assumed would carry on to the night as well, and he honestly didn’t feel like studying at all. He yawned and pressed to reply the message.

            _To Cas: 20:25 pm_

_Not really, why? Want to hang out?_

He felt bold with that answer, Cas rarely asked him to hang out unless it was a late evening or early before their classes. Maybe Dean was thinking too much what Benny told him, and Cas was just in need for some time.

            _From Cas: 20:31 pm_

_Balthazar is throwing a party, would you like to come?_

Dean’s smile fell when he read that. It wasn’t that Dean hated parties, he had attended some. And it wasn’t that Dean was a total prude, he enjoyed to drink occasionally. But a party with what he knew would be the elite of the university? But if Cas was going to be there, well, he guessed he could give it a try.

            _To Cas: 20:37 pm_

_Sure thing_

_From Cas: 20:46 pm_

_I’ll pick you up in half hour_

Dean sighed and dropped the phone on his bed. He went to take a quick shower and dressed. Just when he had put on his favourite maroon shirt and reached for his glasses that he paused. He loved his glasses, offensive names be damned if he was still able to punch the guy in the nose for it. But he figured this would apply to those rare occasions where he could use the… contact lenses.

He hated them, his eyes always ended up as if he had cried for hours and the itch was annoying the first fifteen minutes. Still, something in the back of his mind convinced him to give them a go.

Exactly half hour after the message Castiel was knocking at his dorm door. Dean winced when he blinked one more time to adjust the lenses but opened the door before Cas knocked a second time.

“Hello Dean”

“Cas hey, hi” Dean managed a smile, the itch in his eyes still bothering him “so, a party?”

“Balthazar has the habit of throwing them at least once a month” Cas shrugged, his eyes fixed on Dean’s face “he always invites a good portion of the university”

“Huh” Dean nodded, feeling the prickle on his eyes again. As far as he knew, neither Charlie or Benny had commented of those parties so he had to go figure which portion of people Cas was talking about.

“Are you alright?” Cas asked “your eyes look…”

“Contacts” Dean smiled, waving it off “don’t worry; it’s a bitch to get used to them after so long”

Cas hummed, still looking at Dean’s eyes. This was the first time he saw his face without the glasses and damn his eyes looked beautiful, if it weren’t for the glassy look they had. And Dean looked fantastic with the dark shirt and rolled sleeves up to his shoulders, the black undershirt and denim jeans with ripped edges.

“We should get going” Cas managed to say, looking to a side of the hallway. Dean gave him a small smile and closed the door behind him, following Cas’ steps towards the building exit.

They had to take a taxi to Balthazar’s home since Dean’s car was now subject of Dean’s reparations and he hadn’t finished with those.

“So… Cas I’ve been meaning to ask you” Dean turned to his left but Cas’ phone had started to ring.

“Sorry, I have to get this” he replied, picking the phone to his ear “hello Balthazar, yes, yes almost there”

Dean looked to the window and noticed the moon starting to show on the sky. He was nervous, he barely knew people outside of his small circle of friends and classmates. And the nagging in his head regarding that question still decided to haunt him over the ride.

“I’m sorry, he likes to bother every five or so minutes until I arrive” Cas said once he hung up.

“Hey it’s fine” Dean waved a hand, his determination to ask Cas about what they were fading like the speed of their taxi.

When they reached their destination, Dean almost let his jaw drop in surprise at how big it looked.

“It is not as overwhelming as it looks” Cas said once they got out of the taxi “you’ll see”

Dean nodded, making his way towards the house with Cas slightly ahead of him. The door was open, with music coming out of it and at least more than sixty people walking around, sharing drinks or dancing.

“Cassie! At last!” Balthazar called him over from the door frame “you did decide to come, and you brought a friend?”

Castiel didn’t correct or add anything to the conversation, something that made Dean’s throat feel dry. It was fine, it was probably nothing, and Dean tried to tell himself that as they made their way inside.

The music wasn’t so bad, it was enjoyable and the drinks weren’t bad either. Cas had introduced him to some of his friends, like Gabriel and Anna, but just as Dean, not ‘my friend Dean’ or ‘my date Dean’ or even ‘the guy I’m seeing’. The notch in Dean’s throat was tightening with each passing moment, even more when one of the nice girls of campus, a Sociology student, dragged Cas over to somewhere else, leaving Dean alone with Gabriel and Anna.

“So! Dean-o” Gabriel patted his shoulder, since he wasn’t tall enough to wrap an arm around Dean’s neck “what is with you and Castiel?”

“I… uh” Dean looked back at where Castiel was dragged and to his friends “we just are, well”

“Gabe stop harassing the poor boy” Anna slapped his head “don’t worry about him Dean, he just has no filter unless you stuck his mouth with sugar”

“Harsh” Gabriel whined, unwrapping what it looked like a lollipop and stuffing it in his mouth “can’t a guy be curious about his friend’s possible boyfriend?”

Dean felt his ears warming up to that word.

“It’s alright Dean, you don’t have to comply to whatever he says” Anna offered him a smile “come on, will introduce you to the others”

Dean started to relax after that, even finding some enjoyment at the party, laughing at some jokes and just talking in general.

Until someone had shouted to play “Spin the Bottle”.

It wasn’t that Dean hated the game, he had had his share of it during high school, but college was a different level of possible dares and embarrassment and he was not ready for it at a place where he barely knew the people. And this time they had seemed to mix that game with “Truth or Dare”, also known as the game where you did something incredibly embarrassing or admit something even worse.

“What do you think Dean? care to join?” Gabe nudged his side “I could give it a go”

“I uh” Dean looked to the place where many were already gathering in a circle “I just need to fix my contacts” he pointed at his eyes “won’t take long”

“Sure thing!” Gabe joked, allowing Dean to retreat to the nearest bathroom. He washed his face and managed to remove the damn contact lenses. He knew he could get eye surgery for his hyperopia, but the idea of a laser in his eyeballs? Not a pleasant one.

He figured if he was really careful he would be able to be without them for a while, just fifteen minutes max, as long as he had memorized the path towards the living room and didn’t trip with anyone.

He walked back to where the game was taking place, leaning against the doorframe so he wouldn’t hit with anything or clash into anyone. There were at least fifteen silhouettes sitting in a circle and Dean was able to map out some of them like Anna and Balthazar, but couldn’t see Castiel. Maybe he wasn’t playing?

“Truth or dare” a girl suddenly exclaimed, making Dean to focus on the game.

“Dare”

Dean recognized that voice, Castiel was sitting in front of him, probably unaware of Dean’s presence.

“How about… a full minute of making out with the person at the other end of the bottle”

Dean felt his heart beating fast against his chest. It was a game; it was a stupid game nothing else.

“Unless you are with someone and the person agrees, right?”

Castiel shrugged and made his way towards the girl in front of him to fulfil the dare.

Dean’s legs almost gave out on him. He didn’t care to hear the rest of what they were saying. He felt sick and with the need to throw up the few drinks he had had. The corner of his eye caught a glimpse of a short figure approaching him.

“Dean?” he knew it was Gabriel but he honestly wanted to leave as soon as he could without causing a scene.

 “I… I need to get some air” Dean managed to say, his feet moving in automatic towards the lounge and the exit door. He didn’t care how he managed to make his way outside without tripping once.

Of course Castiel didn’t see them as dating; of course he had to be something casual. Of course Castiel would never see Dean as something more of a nerd who had a crush on the popular guy.

He cursed at the sting in his eyes, aware of the tears he knew were out of frustration and complete embarrassment. He felt stupid, betrayed and on top of it, he felt lost since he had no idea of where he was right now.

“Fuck” he groaned, looking for his phone in hopes he would get signal to at least get access to the maps application. He tried to put the screen as far as he could to unlock it but his eyes were blurry with threatening tears he just couldn’t do it.

“Dean” someone called him, but he didn’t want to turn, not with his face betraying his desire to hide how he was feeling. He ignored the person, instead focusing on the blurry screen of his phone, of course this was meant to happen, he didn’t even bring his glasses and the contacts were an instant no with how irritated his eyes felt.

“Dean?” someone was standing in front of him, and he just managed to see a red mass of hair out of the blurriness. He would have said Charlie but the voice was softer than Charlie’s, not to mention Charlie wasn’t at the party. It had to be Anna then. Just what he needed.

“I’m fine, the contact lenses are bothering me” he croaked, at least his voice didn’t falter when he spoke.

“You are not wearing them right now” Anna said “you dropped the container back there but I understand why”

Dean blinked at her, wiping his eyes with the now unrolled sleeve of his shirt. Now he had to go back for them and with his vision compromised he was just going to make a bigger fool out of himself.

“I could get them for you”

“No, no I” Dean shook his head “I can go for them, but I think I’m heading home”

“Dean, I would like to apologize for what happened” Anna started to say, and oh how Dean wished she wouldn’t go there “but it is not my place to do so, however, I can assure you that Castiel had not meant to hurt your feelings”

“I think he is unaware of said feelings” Dean felt the beginning of anger now “I get it, it was just a casual thing then”

“How will you know if you don’t ask him?”

“Oh you want me to talk with him?”

“No” Anna smiled, guiding Dean to the back door of the house “I want you to call him out of his stupidity and make him comfort things like the adult he is” Anna offered him a smile, opening the door to the kitchen.

~

“Castiel, a word in the kitchen if you don’t mind” Gabriel dragged Castiel by the collar of his shirt, Balthazar trailing behind them

“What is it?”

“What was that?” Gabriel cornered Castiel at the kitchen “that with the kissing and did you know living Ken doll was right behind you?”

“Please refrain yourself from calling Dean that” Cas groaned, grabbing a beer from the fridge, slamming the door with more force than necessary “it was a dare”

“Please refrain from causing more damage to my kitchen” Balthazar sighed, his cup already forgotten on the sink “but we would love an explanation”

“I didn’t know Dean was behind”

“Oh so you do admit you have something with him?”

“At last if I must add” Gabriel said, chewing on a rock candy he had “but dude you just crushed his heart”

“I did not know Dean was there”

“You could have said something?”

Castiel fiddled with the bottle in his hands. He should have said something, but he hadn’t talked with Dean about what they had, or if he was alright with keeping it just between them.

“The guy must like you a lot for him to come all the way here without knowing anyone else” Gabriel said “he looked fondly at you when you were at the other side of the room, hell, he flushed when I teased about you with him”

Castiel couldn’t help the small smile despite being scolded. It’s true that what he had with Dean was something. But he didn’t know if Dean wanted something more formal, after all, they had just had casual encounters and nothing too physical. He heard the door of the kitchen opening but assumed it was someone going for another drink.

“Well I’m not sure he wants what you are suggesting” Cas took a gulp of his beer, the now empty bottle resting on the counter “since I have as you say, fucked up”

“Why don’t you ask him?” Anna’s voice interrupted them “instead of making stupid assumptions”

Cas looked up to where Anna was, her hand firmly resting on Dean’s shoulder. But he wasn’t looking at him directly, instead trying to focus on another place.

“Gabe, Balthy” she smiled at the other guys “would you come and help me find Dean’s contact lenses? I think the container is in the living room”

“Sure ma’am” Gabe hopped off the counter, walking fast out of the kitchen, with Balthazar trailing behind.

“Dean…”

“Was it a casual thing?” Dean blurted out, unable to hold the question back any longer “what, what we were having these months, was it a casual? Because I thought you were just in need for time or something, but if it is a casual thing then just tell me so I have no reason to be upset at what happened”

Dean was talking fast, he knew that, but he couldn’t just stop. Cas was walking closer and Dean hated it because he was unable to properly see him as his vision blurred more and more.

“I’m sorry Dean” Cas managed to interrupt him “I suppose we didn’t talk about it”

“I wanted to ask you but your phone rang… and then we were here and what was I supposed to say?”

Cas looked at Dean’s face, at how hard he was trying to keep his focus on Cas despite being longsighted and how tense he looked by the constant pressing on his jaw.

“I’m sorry” Cas repeated “I shouldn’t have accepted that dare”

“It was a game…” Dean started to say but Cas held his jaw, forcing Dean to keep looking at his face.

“I don’t want us to be a game” he said “I want us to give a try and be something”

“You mean it?” Dean looked at him in disbelief “because I totally get if you don’t Cas, I’m just a guy in the crowd and you are w—“

Cas cut Dean short by pressing their lips together. It wasn’t a long kiss, nor Cas trying to devour Dean on the kitchen floor –heaven forbid Balthazar heard of that- it was just a kiss, the first they truly shared.

“I would like us to be something official now” Cas muttered, his lips tingling with the warmth of Dean’s mouth, he’d have to kiss Dean more often, “that of course if you want us to be”

Dean rested his forehead against Cas’, a small smile on his face. Damn him for knowing what to say and how.

“Yeah, yeah Cas” he finally said “I want us to be something”

“Perfect” Cas grinned, pulling Dean into another kiss that lasted more than the first, until Dean broke it off, his hands against Cas’ shoulders.

“But I would love to do this with me having the chance to properly see you” Dean said, pointing at his eyes “because you are kind of a blur of blue and black right now”

“Of course” Cas grabbed Dean’s hand, leading him out of the kitchen when he knocked the empty bottle of beer he had had a moment ago, the bottle spinning on the counter until it stopped, it’s end pointing at Dean.

“Dean, truth or dare”

“Come on Cas” Dean rolled his eyes, but gave in to the stupid game “dare”

“I dare you to steal one of Gabriel’s snacks”

Dean laughed, despite the agonizing minutes he had gone through and the fact that his eyes were really starting to hurt with so much straining, he couldn’t help the laugh.

“Give me back my contacts and we’ll see”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to write more cheesy tropes with this college au just so you know.  
> This is not over yet!


End file.
